Kings of Misery
by Nixxxx
Summary: Spring is a time of changing phases, from buds blossoming to new resolutions made for the school year. In her final year of high school, a girl continues to reject change from entering in her life. But perhaps a certain obnoxious blonde will force herself to change her life, for better... or for worse. Fate/High School AU. MordredxFem!OC.


April signals the blooming of the blossoms, which meant that that its cycle was ending once more. For students it signaled new beginnings, a chance to reinvent themselves as the school year starts anew. School resolutions at the tip of people's tongue, both new and old. Some wish to do better in academics, while some swear to excel more in sports or other school activities. Others wish to work their way towards popularity, and then those are the opposite who wish to focus less on their social life.

And then, there's Arsinoe.

"Same old, same old, Arsinoe?" Jeanne asked, fixing her school skirt as they walked towards the academy entrance and switch to their indoor shoes. An arm was linked with her friend's with the other holding her school bag firmly as it hung from her shoulder. Once they entered the locker area, both girls took out their indoor shoes from their bag and took out their current shoes, replacing them with the indoor shoes while they put away their outdoor shoes inside the lockers. They then proceeded to the hallways to look for their homeroom.

Nodding, Arsinoe smiled a bit, "Just trying to get by the school year with good grades, I suppose," she replied. She was never the one to ask for too much, but also would never let an opportunity for a wish to go by unused. However, in the bigger picture, she was never changing, no matter how many seasons change and pass, she was someone who never stepped out of her bounds to ask for more, even if it was freely given to her.

Perhaps it was because of the stability it provided, the routine it created. Breaking that routine… it wasn't an option simply because it didn't feel right. It was the same for her lacking social life, not that she was a loner, she had friends but she never broke out to do make more, fearing the change, not having the comfort of knowing what lies beyond her usual circle.

"You know, that's what I appreciate about you, Arsinoe. You've got a good head on your shoulders and you've got a lot of things figured out," Jeanne smiled back to her friend. "But seriously, anything you wanna achieve this year?" Jeanne pressed, leading her friend inside. A flurry of incoming freshmen all wandered around with confusion on their faces, trying to find rooms, offices, lockers, whatever their destination may be.

"Nothing, really, just a good year with good grades," Arsinoe mused, checking her email from her phone to check where her homeroom would be in again. "Which homeroom are you in?" Arsinoe asked Jeanne.

"3-11" the blonde chirped.

"Great, we'll be in the same one," Arsinoe grinned as she lead her friend to their homeroom. As a third year, she pretty much knew the campus by heart already, finding the room would be no big deal.

On the way, Jeanne unlooped her arm from Arsinoe's, fondly watching the fresh new girls just wander around, worry in their eyes for their first day. It made Jeanne reminisce of her own first day, she was just exactly like them. Nervous and super conscious of herself as she tried looking for her own homeroom, getting lost, but finding a friend along the way, Arsinoe.

"I can't believe this is our last year… it's been fun, hasn't it? It went by real fast and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it," Jeanne pouted while Arsinoe gave a small chuckle.

"It's from all that studying you haven't been doing, the more you have fun, the faster time rolls around," poking her forehead fondly, Arsinoe stuck her tongue out to further tease her friend who merely pouted once again.

"Hey, I have been studying… just not as much as you do," Jeanne huffed as she slid the door open.

A cluster of students gathered at the small podium to look at the seating chart, and Arsinoe and Jeanne waited for some of them to find their seats before looking for their own so as to not overcrowd the podium. Looking around, Arsinoe saw Stheno, who gave her a small wave when they had made eye-contact, returning to her conversation after. Boudica and Martha were sitting next to each other, talking, and some such as Attila was reading a book at their seat.

Before she could look around some more, Jeanne pulled Arsinoe to the podium, "Arsinoe… I think you need to wish harder this time, my dear… I think you've used up all of your 'wishing for a good year' tickets."

Raising her brows up in confusion, Arsinoe looked for her name on the seating chart.

"Oh neat! Window seat this year again, yes!" Arsinoe cheered slightly. Jeanne pointed to the name behind hers. Her happiness all swirled down into the drain once she read the name pointed to her.

Mordred.

Notorious for being many things, she was rebellious at heart, overly lively, couldn't give a flying shit about her academic life, but was the best at athletics, was rumored to be from a rich family. She was admired by many of the girls at the academy, but some found her the opposite. Arsinoe has heard stories of people who have gotten her mad, some have never been heard from again, and others live their life in misery in social exile. Stories of Mordred lighting someone's outdoor shoes on fire to sticking chewed gum on the hair of the girl who sat in front of her (which was Arsinoe's current worst fear). No one can deny Mordred's beauty, but at the same time it couldn't save her god-awful temperament.

Once again pulled away from the podium by her blonde friend, Arsinoe was still in shock. Her last year, and they simply couldn't give it to her. Just one more year of average luck, she rolled the one of the worst possible scenarios that could happen to effectively make sure her year sucked.

Jeanne led her friend to her seat, obviously feeling bad for her. She wouldn't wish her enemies to sit near Mordred. Sure, the girl was popular with the others easily. Her boisterous nature was a delight, even somewhat of a jokester in class. However, having to deal with her random outbursts of rage was rather scary.

Arsinoe slowly sat down, hanging her bag on hook that was on the side of her desk. The next thing she did was tie her hair up. No gum on her hair, that wasn't going to happen if she could avoid it.

Giving her friend an encouraging smile, Jeanne placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry. Forget how I reacted, I don't think it's going to be _that_ bad. You're the person I least expect to give her something to be mad about," she smiled, leaning on the desk next to her. They talked for a bit (though mostly to cheer Arsinoe up), and when the bell rang, Jeanne returned to her seat, as well as some of the students.

A little after the bell rang, a loud entrance was made by none other than Mordred, having slammed the sliding door on her way in. She didn't seem particularly pleased, but looking at her expression, Arsinoe deduced that she must be tired and haven't gotten used to waking up early again.

Arsinoe sat up straight, becoming rather stiff as Mordred took to the only remaining chair, the one behind Arsinoe. For a brief moment, her eyes met with Mordred's causing a small heat of embarrassment to color her cheeks, immediately looking away so as to not accidentally assert dominance.

Having Mordred finally sit behind her was nerve-racking. Arsinoe could feel Mordred stare holes behind her back. Thankfully, a distraction came inside the classroom and introduced herself as Da Vinci, their homeroom teacher for the year.

* * *

When it signaled lunch, Arsinoe took out her lunch, a quaint little bento enough to sustain her for the day. She stood up, with Jeanne walking towards her seat with her own bento at hand. "Let's go sit by the blossoms," Jeanne enthusiastically offered.

Arsinoe stood up, nodding while she held unto her lunch. "I packed us some white chocolate to enjoy," Arsinoe told Jeanne who first pumped the air as they walked over to switch to their outside shoes before actually going outside to watch the blossoms.

They weren't the only ones with the good idea to watch the blossoms in April, and there were a bunch of girls who sat on the grass, eating their lunch peacefully. Both Jeanne and Arsinoe decided to find a patch of grass to sit on since a lot of the benches were taken. Eventually, they found a place a little bit farther away from the rest, taking out their lunches.

"So how did you fare the class so far?" Jeanne asked, breaking off her chopsticks.

"It wasn't that bad, lots of tapping of fingers, she kicked the leg of my chair a couple times," Arsinoe sighed, picking at the snow peas that she had in her lunch. Jeanne giggled, leaning on her friend.

"You'll get used to it, you have a whole school year ahead of you. Plus, it doesn't hurt that you're sitting right in front of a total babe," the blonde pointed out teasingly.

With a roll of her eyes, Arsinoe took a bite of her snow peas, "Right, because all girls in an all-girls academy just has to be gay, Jeanne. You do realize there's an all-boys school down the street, right?"

Jeanne huffed, "You know I didn't mean that. It's just that… a lot of girls are really infatuated with her…" she mused with a blush.

Arsinoe grinned, "Hey, I thought you were uber Catholic," she teased, "you seem infatuated with her, you keep bringing her up," Arsinoe added.

With that response, Jeanne flustered up to her cheeks, "Y-yes I am Catholic, and I am the president of our Catholic club! But I'm also just stating a fact about Mordred," she puffed up her cheeks in frustration.

Arsinoe nudged Jeanne, taking a bite of her food, "Jus' kiddin'," the rice muffling her words.

They continued eating, admiring the pretty blossoms like the rest of the girls outside, silence falling between them like a blanket. Sometimes it was better not to talk, and their friendship was deep enough to connect without verbal interactions.

* * *

Lunch went by without a hitch and now the girls were waiting for their math teacher to arrive. They sat in their seats, others in self-study and some talking to one another. Arsinoe fell into the category of students that studied on their own. It was the first day, but it was their last year, most people still worried about their entrance exams. It was never too early to study, especially not when it basically dictated her whole future. Good jobs come to those who came from good colleges, that was just simply the fact in present day.

A tap on her shoulder from behind disturbed her. She flinched, turning around to face the beautiful blonde that sat behind her, with eyes that she wasn't sure whether it was either green or blue.

"Yes?" Arsinoe asked softly, her eyes quickly avoiding Mordred's in case she took to it as an offense.

With a stoic expression, Mordred placed her chin on her hand, "Give me a pencil, mine just broke."

Looking down, Arsinoe spotted a pencil snapped in half. It made her feel uneasy letting her borrow her pencil, especially if that was going to be how it was going to be laid to rest. But she couldn't exactly say no to Mordred, not wanting to get on her bad side for the rest of the year.

"Oh, o-of course," turning back around, Arsinoe opened her pencil pouch, taking out a pencil. 'Goodbye,' she whispered to herself, pretty sure she wasn't ever going to see the pencil again. Turning back to face Mordred, Arsinoe placed the pencil on Mordred's desk without another word, then she was back to studying again.

Their teacher arrived late and started lecturing after giving a short introduction. Arsinoe could already tell how strict they were due to how quick they jumped to the lecture on the first day. Luckily for her, she was rather good with numbers and liked the challenge it gave her, so she didn't mind jumping into the lecture on the first day. With rapt attention to the teacher, Arsinoe was able to ignore the small sounds of frustration coming from behind her and her previous fear for her pencil's future.

They were given a worksheet as homework at the end of class, which wasn't a surprise considering how the teacher went about lecturing already. When their math teacher left, most of the students started to work on their homework, including Arsinoe. It was easy enough, since the lecture was mostly review with new chunks of information here and there. But without the teacher lecturing , Arsinoe now found it hard to ignore the annoying sounds of frustration behind her.

She felt another tap from Mordred, and this time she didn't flinch. Turning around, she looked at Mordred's desk with the worksheet only done on the first problem with the wrong answer.

"Tell me how to do this," was Mordred commanded, catching Arsinoe in surprise. But being someone who was kind enough and had a healthy fear of the person behind her, Arsinoe inwardly sighed and complied with a tight smile.

"Of course," was her answer.

She was surprised that Mordred was actively reaching out to her on how to do the homework. From what Arsinoe knew, Mordred just bullied or paid someone to do her homework instead, or just didn't do it at all. But Arsinoe refrained from asking, concluding that maybe her resolve this year was to actively participate in her academic studies. Exams were coming around soon, and no matter who you were, it was something of grave importance. Maybe Mordred wasn't such a deadbeat as Arsinoe thought she was.

Checking Mordred's paper, Arsinoe checked her work, furrowing her brows before erasing everything. "Here," she said, putting back the blonde's paper in front of her as she started to explain to Mordred where she went wrong, which was basically everything.

Making mostly confused noises, Mordred gave Arsinoe the intuition that she still didn't get it, and it only solidified when the blonde pulled a very frustrated face, "Slow down! I said I don't get it!" she loudly snapped at her.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at both of them. Arsinoe was frozen in her position, her lips parting. The embarrassing attention on them made her heart race quickly, the corner of her eyes burning with tears prickling. With a tight gulp, Arsinoe apologized quietly, pulling slightly away from Mordred's desk. A shaky breath came out of her and Mordred was about to say something, but was interrupted by the entrance of their science teacher.

Arsinoe quickly turned around, and everyone else turned to their teacher, greeting them before class started, feeling bad for the unfortunate girl that sat in front of Mordred.

* * *

Jeanne knew enough about Arsinoe to know she didn't want to talk about what had happened earlier, but Jeanne continuously beat herself up having unable to stand up for her friend. Their walk to the teachers' faculty room was silent, Arsinoe obviously still upset from earlier.

"Don't wait for me, I'll be here for a long time. I have to get my club set up early before club rush next week," Jeanne told her, knocking at the door of the faculty room.

Giving her friend a nod, Arsinoe said her goodbyes, and was met by a tight hug from Jeanne. Arsinoe hugged her back, though a bit awkwardly.

"You tell me if Mordred bothers you, okay? I'll give her hell," Jeanne said firmly, pulling away. Arsinoe nodded, but didn't say anything else. She would hate to involve Jeanne unto the wrath of Mordred.

Turning away, Arsinoe made her way to the shoe lockers, switching her shoes before she went outside. April had the most beautiful scenery, with cherry blossoms filling the view with pink, the breeze allowing for a rain of pink blossoms. It cheered up Arsinoe slightly as she walked over to the school gates.

The scenery was enough for her to decide to take a detour to the nearby park where there were even more blossoms to look at. Walking there was a short and breezy trip, but she regretted not stopping by a cafe to get a beverage. It was the perfect day to sip coffee and just walk around the park.

Arsinoe heard a voice calling her name, the voice was the last thing she wanted to hear after the events earlier. Sighing, she turned to the direction where she heard the voice, the frown in her face was something she couldn't hide.

"Mordred," Arsinoe simply said. The other girl gave a small nod and a sigh, reaching out in her pocket for something.

The blonde pulled out something and placed it in Arsinoe's hand. Looking down, Arsinoe realized it was her pencil. Surprisingly, she had forgotten about that. She looked up at Mordred who now held an expression she'd never seen on the blonde before.

"Hey, listen… About-" Arsinoe cut her off quickly.

"It's fine," she sharply replied, holding onto her pencil tightly. "Thank you for returning this to me," Arsinoe added stoically.

Mordred could tell that she was still upset, which honestly irritated her, because she already apologized, why couldn't she just take it?

The blonde watched the shorter girl turn around, but she spotted something that made her reach for Arsinoe's wrist.

"Huh?" Arsinoe turned her head slightly back around to face Mordred who had her wrist. With her other hand, Mordred reach out to her hair and plucked something from her hair.

"There's petals in your hair," Mordred said simply, letting go of Arsinoe, whom was now flushed pink.

"T-thank you," she stuttered, now frozen in her spot for a different reason. Mordred looked at her for a moment, flushing herself.

"Well," she lifted her arm to rub the back of her neck, "Listen, about earlier… I was wondering if you could tutor me sometime," Mordred asked, unsure that Arsinoe would take the offer considering she did snap at her earlier. But she needed it, and she hoped luck would be on her side. If she was going to prove something to her father…

There was an uncomfortable shift in Arsinoe's movement that Mordred noticed as the other girl moved to fully turn to face her. There was a determined look on Arsinoe's face that she couldn't help but feel frightened about, mostly because it sure did look like she was going to reject her offer.

"No," rang in Mordred's ears as Arsinoe gave her firm answer.

She knew not to expect too much, but it still frustrated the blonde girl. Her temper rose and frustration took over her face. Mordred saw the frightened look on Arsinoe's face that indicated her own expression. Blowing up in front of Arsinoe would further solidify her answer, and Mordred's pride didn't want to accept that, so she stormed off to the fancy black car that waited for her, leaving a girl who now regretted her answer, fearing for tomorrow's events after obviously angering Mordred.


End file.
